Filmed over 21 years, Sabbath Queen, the award-winning documentary by acclaimed director Sandi Dubowski, follows the journey of gay activist Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie as he navigates evolving perspectives on religion and ritual.
The documentary film opens in theaters on December 6 in Los Angeles, exclusively at Laemmle Royal.
Sabbath Queen follows Amichai Lau-Lavie, an Israeli descended from an unbroken line of 38 rabbis stretching back a thousand years. Yet as the film opens, Lau-Lavie is newly arrived in New York in the late 1990s, a young gay man declaring “Artists are the new rabbis” and appearing around the city in drag as Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, the widow of six Hasidic rabbis (all from the same extended family). As the years pass, Lau-Lavie embraces a range of creative spiritual endeavors, including Storahtelling and Lab/Shul—until he shocks everyone with his decision to become a rabbi himself, studying in the Conservative tradition of Judaism.
Sabbath Queen is witness to Lau-Lavie’s unfailing courage and grace, as he grapples with key questions of who we are and who we will be. Stimulating and moving, DuBowski’s film ends with Lau-Lavie’s words on Israel and Palestine post-October 7th as he evokes the challenge of our lifetime: “How do we reimagine our sacred traditions to achieve peace?”
Watch the official trailer for Sabbath Queen
Related posts:
